Publication Date: Friday, July 09, 2004
Cordell blasts Daily News
Cordell blasts Daily News
(July 09, 2004) Encourages city employees to stonewall paper
by Bill D'Agostino
Councilwoman LaDoris Cordell went public with her scathing opinion of the Palo Alto Daily News this week, encouraging city officials to cease talking to the paper's reporters.
"It is the finest example of yellow journalism," Cordell explained, later adding, "Its purpose is to be controversial and divisive."
The comments came as Cordell recounted her whirlwind first six months on the Palo Alto City Council. Since getting elected last November, Cordell has refused to speak to the newspaper.
Cordell said she encourages city employees to stonewall the paper as well. Other city officials talk to the paper -- but grudgingly -- she said.
"It's a joke at City Hall," she said.
The paper is full of distorted headlines, erroneous facts and grammatical errors, and the editors don't adhere to minimal journalistic standards, Cordell said.
"It's made to catch the readers' attention, but it's not accurate."
Cordell specifically referred to the Daily News' recent coverage of events, including a story last month in which the paper reported that Palo Altans were criticizing the city for allowing a concert at Foothills Park, which is off-limits to non-residents, to go forward.
Dave Price, the Daily News publisher, refused to comment on Cordell's criticisms, but brushed aside the news that she had gone public with her opinion of his paper.
"When was she not public?" Price asked.
Although Cordell spoke to Daily News reporters while campaigning for a council seat, she did so reluctantly on the advice of her inner circle.
Mayor Bern Beecham said while he "respected" Cordell's decision, "I would never play favorites with the media." Still, he added, "I certainly understand that people get frustrated with what is reported."
Cordell is far from the first elected official to snub a local newspaper. John F. Parkinson, an early 20th century council member, refused to talk with the Palo Alto Times, unofficial city historian and former mayor Gary Fazzino said. But Cordell is the first in a while to publicly voice views about the Daily News, long a thorn in many officials' sides.
Even when he was upset with certain stories, Fazzino said he always spoke with all papers, attributing it to his affable Italian nature.
"In the long run, you're probably going to have a better relationship with the press if you suck it up and deal with them, even if you'd like to export them to some godforsaken atoll in the Pacific, never to be seen again," Fazzino said.
Cordell said her refusal to speak to the Daily News is unrelated to the fact that the paper didn't endorse her during the 2003 campaign. She noted that she still talks with both the Weekly and the Mercury News even though they recently ran editorials criticizing her view that all members of the Human Relations Commission should support gay marriage to sit on the commission.
The Daily also editorialized against Cordell's view and ran a cartoon dressing Cordell as the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland. Recently, the Daily News ran a short story noting that Cordell was being paid as a legal analyst for a local television news station.
If citizens are fed up with the Daily News, they should speak with advertisers and encourage them not to spend money in the paper, Cordell said. But she added she is not actively advocating a boycott.
"This community deserves better," she said. "We deserve so much better than the garbage being thrown out by this rag."
Staff writer Bill D'Agostino can be e-mailed at bdagostino@paweekly.com
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